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They are handed down generation after generation for the most part. Several Generations living in them at a time typically: Kids, Parents, Grandparents. If something breaks or cracks they fix it, and fix it better than the last time. Its not like they had a big wild west to move out into like Americans did...if you arent going anywhere, its cheaper to fix what you have than demolish and build new. They have small castles there that resemble large houses more than what Americans think of as castles. Here is a good example of one I saw in Pottenstein: THIS The buildings are literally part of the rock itself, basically. This one was built in 900 AD? I think? Corrections on that welcome.

Crazy isnt it? There were caves all around in the hills surrounding the village that surrounded this castle. Suggesting that Paleolithic man inhabited this area during the stone age even. Its a truly remarkable place...

Please keep in mind when you're seeing images such as these, the village may have been founded at such-and-such a date, but like everything else, it has changed with time. The streets may not have originally been paved, and even if they were, the cobble stone seen here may have been upgraded or restored centuries later. The windows would not likely have been glazed; only the wealthiest could afford to paint their homes; fireproofing did not exist until the 20th century, so many of these residences may have burned down only to be rebuilt in updated styles or utilizing newer building techniques/materials.

For those of you asking why we don't build like this anymore, while it may be true that our new industrial, mass-produced homes are not nearly as quaint and romantic, new building techniques, as ugly as they may be, are the reason you, your parents and the middle class are able to afford to own a home in the first place. Not only that, but these same boring designs are what afford us the ability to heat it, cool it, run water and electricity in it, to renovate, fireproof, and so on. Historic houses are absolutely gorgeous, but like everything else in history and design they were born out of circumstance and wealth. For example, the weather required peaked roofs for snow and rain, the wood was the cheapest of the widely available materials, the elevated ground floor was to prevent wild animals, horse poop and street garbage from dragging into the house... on and on. In our day and age, the most cost effective and customizable material is concrete. That was really what allowed modernist architecture we live with to emerge.

Keep in mind, these homes were not the rule, like our own suburban sprawled neighborhoods. There's a reason you're not seeing the dirty, dingy one room shacks that peasants lived in. These were the homes of the wealthy. These are the NYC penthouses of their day. It would be more suitable to compare our boring brick apartment buildings to the utilitarian homes that no longer exist.

I love old houses and Germany in general. I remember I used to go visit my grandmother in Germany. She lived in an old farm house similar to this, near Schlier. Some of my best memories as a child occurred while visiting in the summer, and once, in the winter. My uncle managed the small farm, meat cows and pigs, some crops. He also had a few very old tractors. I fondly remember driving the newer tractors and helping him, cigar in mouth, with chores. That was my first experience with a manual, but I still stall the family car every time I try to drive it now. Anyhoo, I also remember riding on the fender of various tractors as my aunt, uncle, and some friends drove them to local tractor conventions. Then my grandmother died and we never went there again. Not sure why I wrote this though

I like how Barbarossa is thrown in there with forests amd castles. I got introduced to Barbarossa about 6 months ago and I loved it. Haven't been back since though even though there's one just down the street. Guess I'll have to change that.

I know in the 50s after world war 2 many of the old German villages from the 13th to 15th century were destroyed but rebuilt using the exact plans from back in the day. This may be one of those, its all speculation but there were many of them and this looks like great condition.

So when its said that this is a 13th century village, does that mean that this picture actually represents what the village may have looked like during that time, or just that it still resides on the same plot of land?

Most likely the village was founded in the 13th century, but these particular buildings are probably no more than 500 years old. Many old towns suffer from fires or wars over the centuries, and wood degrades, so 13th century buildings or especially whole villages rarely survive to today.

Belle:
Little town
It's a quiet village
Ev'ry day
Like the one before
Little town
Full of little people
Waking up to say:
Lady:
Bon jour!
Man carrying grain sack:
Bon jour!
Egg man:
Bon jour!
Washer woman:
Bon jour!
Baker:
Bon jour!
Belle:
There goes the baker with his tray, like always
The same old bread and rolls to sell
Ev'ry morning just the same
Since the morning that we came
To this poor provincial town
Baker:
Good Morning, Belle!
Belle:
Good Morning, Monsieur.
Baker:
Where are you off to, today?
Belle:
The bookshop. I just finished the most wonderful story
About a beanstalk and an ogre and a -
Baker:
That's nice. Marie!
The baguettes! Hurry up!
Townsfolk:
Look there she goes that girl is strange, no question
Dazed and distracted, can't you tell?
Woman:
Never part of any crowd
Man:
'Cause her head's up on some cloud
Townsfolk:
No denying she's a funny girl that Belle
Man I:
Bonjour!
Woman 1:
Good day!
Man 1:
How is your fam'ly?
Woman 2:
Bonjour!
Man 2:
Good day!
Woman 2:
How is your wife?
Woman 3:
I need six eggs!
Woman 4:
That's too expensive!
Belle:
There must be more than this provincial life!

Bookseller:
Ah, Belle!
Belle:
Good morning, Monsieur. I've come to return the book I borrowed.
Bookseller:
Finished already?
Belle:
Oh, I couldn't put it down. Have you got anything new?
Bookseller:
Not since yesterday.
Belle:
That's all right. I'll borrow... this one!
Bookseller:
That one? But you've read it twice!
Belle:
Well, it's my favorite! Far off places, daring swordfights, magic spells, a prince in disguise -
Bookseller:
If you like it all that much, it's yours!
Belle:
But sir!
Bookseller:
I insist.
Belle:
Well, thank you. Thank you very much!

Townsfolk:
Look there she goes that girl is so peculiar
I wonder if she's feeling well
With a dreamy, far-off look
And her nose stuck in a book
What a puzzle to the rest of us is Belle
Belle:
Oh, isn't this amazing?
It's my fav'rite part because --- you'll see
Here's where she meets Prince Charming
But she won't discover that it's him 'til chapter three!
Woman:
Now it's no wonder that her name means "Beauty"
Her looks have got no parallel
Shopkeeper:
But behind that fair facade
I'm afraid she's rather odd
Man:
Very diff'rent from the rest of us
Townsfolk:
She's nothing like the rest of us
Yes, diff'rent from the rest of us is Belle!

Lefou:
I got it Gaston! Wow! You didn't miss a shot, Gaston! You're the greatest hunter in the whole world!.
Gaston:
I know.
Lefou:
No beast alive stands a chance against you. --- And no girl, for that matter.
Gaston:
It's true, LeFou. And I've got my sights set on that one.
Lefou:
The inventor's daughter?
Gaston:
She's the one - the lucky girl I'm going to marry.
Lefou:
But she's -
Gaston:
The most beautiful girl in town.
Lefou:
I know, but -
Gaston:
That makes her the best. And don't I deserve the best?
Lefou:
Of course you do!

Gaston:
Right from the moment when I met her, saw her
I said she's gorgeous and I fell
Here in town there's only she
Who is beautiful as me
So I'm making plans to woo and marry Belle
Bimbettes:
Look there he goes
Isn't he dreamy?
Monsieur Gaston
Oh he's so cute!
Be still my heart
I'm hardly breathing
He's such a tall, dark, strong and handsome brute!

Belle:
There must be more than this provincial life!
Gaston:
Just watch, I'm going to make Belle my wife!
Townsfolk:
Look there she goes
The girl is strange but special
A most peculiar mad'moiselle!
Women:
It's a pity and a sin
Men:
She doesn't quite fit in
Townsfolk:
'Cause she really is a funny girl
A beauty but a funny girl
She really is a funny girl
That Belle!

Where I live, you pay about double of what you would pay for a regular house, just because it's in the middle of town, old, and pretty. Add more to the price if it's been renovated recently with modern heating and insulation on the inside.

Just 80k? It is quite more expansive where I live, you won't get anything under 150k, and which you get won't be ready to live in. If you want a Fachwerkhaus that you can live in you must pay at least 300k - 500k€ here. And we only have 20k people in this tiny town

in an urban old/historic city district probably expensive or above average.
in rural areas it is average/below average. depending on the condition of the building.
as an owner they can be a hassle to maintain. it is really hard to say looking at a house from the outside. if it is modernized probably the walls were replaced with a bit more modern materials. usually the wooden beams are original and have to be painted regularly on the outside. our family once had a house like that and it still had walls made with straw and clay. you can easily replace those with modern materials and bring it up to date and it still looks the same.

On some show like the Woodwright's Shop or New Yankee Workshop or something they talked about how the German style had cross-beams that made trapezoids (the edges of the beams aren't braced against other beams), versus the English style that favored immutable triangles.

Now whenever I see a building like this, I know how to guess where it was built.

Pictures like this make me angry, because there is no reason why we can't still make this kind of beautiful human-scale architecture. Technology could actually make it faster, cheaper and easier, but instead we design buildings that look like the back of a DVD player.

Right now, in the minds of architects and related academia, minimalism is "in," and has been so since the 50's or so. Building anything new like in OP's picture would be considered tacky, distasteful, imitating the past, and expressing "dishonesty" in architecture. Those very reasons were actually the reasons why modernism emerged in the first place - the persisting classical elements of design of the late 19th-early 20th centuries was exhausted and overused, and in many ways obsolete with new innovations in construction (steel, plate glass, concrete). Many architects saw it as distasteful to build a steel frame building and simply dress it up to look like a classical temple - faux columns, paneling, etc. Sure it all looks very nice but that is what I'm referring to when I say "dishonesty" in architecture - trying to make one thing (a steel column) look like something else (a Classical column).

Well, it's more complicated than that. When Modernism emerged, it was founded for several reasons: the first was that less was beginning to be seen as more (tasteful, beautiful, practical...). People were so sick of emulating the past. We all live with Victorian architecture of the 19th and 20th century in our cities, wherever you are in the Western world. It's all just copies of copies of copies of Ancient, Medieval and Eastern styles, mashed together, completely randomly and without meaning or utility. To us it looks cool now, but to them, it was just so overdone, boring and brash. So they decided to start over with a blank slate, and they literally just stuck with that blank slate.

The second, more important reason was that Modernism was intended to be a complete and utter rejection of the past. It started in the early 20th century and went through different phases, but it was the first World War that really pushed it over the edge. The horrors of war, of totalitarian rule, of dictators and monarchies, of the church especially, were all the more reason to move away from these 'beautiful' designs that were funded and founded by these terrible, elitist people. It was a rejection of the class system, of elitist shows of wealth, of religious inspired architecture, of old fashioned beliefs, etc. It was intended to be a move towards a socialist society where everyone could live equally, at least in their homes (side note: this is why it did not catch on as quickly in the U.S. We had no horrible history with kings or popes to reject, and we certainly didn't care for socialism. Modernism only became popular in the U.S. when it was coined the "International Style").

Many architects spent more time planning utopian societies than actually building anything at this time (mostly because there was no money to build). This included Le corbusier, the "father" of this style, and Walter Gropius who founded the Bauhaus in Germany (which is the school that made this style so famous, it was hated and shut down by the Nazis who preferred traditional antiquity, which only pushed architects further into Modernism).

The third reason is money. Isn't it always a reason? But yes, this new style was cheaper, quicker, and easier than traditional methods. And sure, today we can copy these old 13th century homes easily, when concrete was being re-discovered in the 19th and 20th century, they weren't in such a hurry to bother dedicating the time and effort to do that. With war, and so much of Europe's cities being flattened, and with the return of vets from war, the West needed a quick, cheap solution to house and hospitalize them. The answer was in this concrete. It allowed us to build BIG and fast and CHEAP. Le corbusier wrote something along the lines of the desperate need to build at the rate that everything was being destroyed. 4 walls and a ceiling was the closest we were able to get.

Anyway, that leads us to where we are now. I wrote way more than I planned to going into this comment.

Beautifully reasoned and written, thank you. It makes historical sense, but it has led us to great public buildings by Pei, Gehry, and the "starkitects" that are anxiety-provoking anud just plain butt ugly.

I like the kind of architecture you might see on a model railroad. When you see it, or go inside it, it's reverential; it's human scale, and makes you feel good about being human.

Urban planners call them that because of the garage, dominating the facade, sticking out for all the see like a big, ugly nose. The doors for people, who actually live and breath and are conscious and aware and who are the ones who actually paid the money for this home.... They don't matter as much, so their entrances are hidden, set back, out of the way of thing that really matters: THE CAR.

Snout houses announce to the world that these homes and this community are entirely dependent on the car for their viability, marketability, and existence.

Which also announces to the world that these types of communities are entirely dependent on affordable and abundant fossil fuels for their continued viability, marketability, and existence.

If any of these things go away or become unaffordable, and if there are not viable replacements waiting in the wings, this sorts of places will become slums.

Nope, not what I said. I said Modernism brought us where we are today, not that our homes are Modernist. Our cookie cutter homes were a result of Modernism, circumstance, and wealth (or lack thereof). It was the reality to that ideal of affordable housing, mass production and standardization.

So sure, that Modernism is beautiful. That Modernism is also the idealist, custom designed rich man's version.

(Also as a side note, open plans are a very recent phenomenon. They did not emerge with Modernism at all. The "open plan" in Modernism originally meant eliminating the need for a retaining wall or any other support besides the four columns on which the floor/ceilings rested).

Nope, not what I said. I said Modernism brought us where we are today, not that our homes are Modernist.

And I didn't say our homes were modernist; on the contrary, in the USA, they are often cardboard replicas of old styles. I said that Modernist housing is often beautiful. The thing that is ugly is 20th century mass produced housing.

Our cookie cutter homes were a result of Modernism, circumstance, and wealth

I don't believe our cookie cutter homes were the result of modernism.

British row/terraced houses were cookie cutter designs to house the working class and came long before modernism.

Lots of glass to clean and you'd need a fairly spacious, expensive lot to have good views; most people would have terrible views where they currently live. Expensive to heat and cool the home in areas with actual seasons..

If we're going to criticize modernism for heating/cooling issues, then the German village in the photo is on pretty thin ice too.

As for expense, most people wouldn't be able to afford a nice old-style house, either. I suspect that a quality modernist house is cheaper than something built along old lines, given the labor involved in the latter. Both are far more expensive than a North American cardboard house (which is usually made along fake pseudo-historical lines).

Sounds like an old house. My original point is that this style of architecture could be adapted to modern materials and techniques so that you have something that is both beautiful and practical (easier and cheaper to live in and maintain). Modern building doesn't have to dictate that we design ugly buildings.

I live in one too, we don't have problems with insulation, but OH GOD EVERYTHING IS CROOKED. Seriously, I don't have one straight floor. If I drop something, it rolls into one corner of the room because the whole house leans to one side. Installing roller blinds was tricky because I couldn't get them to align with the windowframe. And if my landlord wants to change something - a window, a tile on the roof - he has to meet a shitton of requirements because the house is under Denkmalschutz.

I love that guessing game when you want to put up a picture... You kind of have to guess which edge you should use to align the frame... The ceiling? The window? The door? The furniture under the picture? It's annoying as shit of you don't have one straight line in your rooms.

my sister lives in a village in which the streets are horrible, they usually have high traffic, but at one point of the main street it narrows down so that only one car can fit through at a time that puts a lot of stress on drivers and the people involved. the root of the problem is such a house, maybe two, which can't be brought down because they are protected by some law (and maybe people live in there but it would be less of a problem to house them somewhere else temporarly, but idk).

It's the same with property here, you buy land, but you are not allowed to do on this land whatever you want.
You have to pay people to ask them if it is ok for them if you build something on your property. then you pay again to get it all planned and then if they don't like your face they say: "nah we don't like this, we need to preserve the image of our society" or some bullshit. of course you don't see your money ever again.

this goes so far that others decide for you whether you can have a flat or a pointy roof on your house (even if you build it all by yourself). They even have the power to decide for you whether you may or may not have a fence around your property, if it ruins "the view" you are likely to have no chance to ever get a fence around your property, they can even word it so that it sounds like you don't NEED what you want, which in my opinion is absolutley none of their concern, if I want a fucking fence around my property then you better not mess with me.

It's weird. In Germany at least, they will rennovate old style houses such as these to look as beautiful as they look in this picture, but building a brand new house to look like this would be only to put in a souvenir store it seems. I'm with you, all countries need more spice.

are there bigger towns that have enveloped these types of villages too? MY travels have been limited to the us and im only recently looking into euro travel so im not too familiar with things. I see towns like this at it always seems to be a place nestled alone in the country/seaside.

You can also find these places in towns with 100k+ inhabitants or nearby villages. Especially in Baden-Würtemberg, Rhineland Palatina and Bavaria. Quite nice but really not uncommon for the area. And I imagine it wouldn't really be possible to find something like this in the US, since many of these houses were built before the Mayflower even set sail.